Hinged, spring-biased devices for use in holding human hair are known in the art. Devices of this kind have been used for many years, and an early example is described in U.S. Pat. No. 2,201,719. Such devices typically comprise a pair of opposed, hingedly connected members each including hair gripping portions and handle portions. The gripping portions are biased into a closed or gripping position by a biasing means, most commonly a torsion spring, that exerts a closing force on the members. To deploy the device, the user squeezes the finger-pressable handle portions to overcome the biasing force of the biasing means and thereby separate the hair gripping portions. While maintaining the squeezing force, the user places the hair gripping portions on opposite sides of a desired quantity of hair to be held by the device. The user then releases the handle portions and the torsion spring urges the hair gripping portions into gripping contact with a lock or shock of gathered hair.
A drawback of hair holding devices of the type described above is their failure to remain in the intended position about the user's hair. Additionally, presently available spring biased hair holding devices do not permit a user to adjust the device to hold hair more or less tightly than the torsion force generated by the device's biasing spring. In other words, the looseness or tightness with which spring biased hair holding devices of the prior art secure hair is determined by factors beyond the user's control, i.e., those related to the user's hair type such as thickness, texture, length, etc. and/or the spring force or torque of the torsion biasing spring.
After securing hair as described above, in an attempt to urge the gripping portions to secure the hair even more tightly, the user of the device quite often manually squeezes the hair gripping portions inwardly toward one another. This causes a temporary compression of the clasped hair to achieve the user's desired hair-securing position. However, when the gripping members are released, the compressed hair exerts expansion force in opposition to the momentary supplemental compression exerted by the user. Accordingly, the expanding lock or shock of hair urges the gripping portions of the hair gripping means to recoil from the user's desired hair-securing position to their original position as dictated by the torsion force of the biasing spring.
The biasing force of the biasing means directly impacts the looseness or tightness with which hair holding devices of the prior art secure hair and it is pre-determined by a particular device's manufacturer. Such a pre-determined biasing force setting may be optimal for some users, but not for others. In sum, hair holding devices of the prior art do not enable a user to control and/or set the looseness or tightness with which such devices secure hair. Their failure to do so reduces the utility and appeal of those devices to many users.
Barrettes and similar devices are also known in the art. However, they too are limited in the range of hair gripping force that they can provide. Generally, they offer one or, at most, a very few factory-set closure positions. If none of those predetermined positions is compatible with a particular user's needs and/or hair characteristics, then they are of little practical value. See, for example, the hair holding device in U.S. Pat. No. 6,082,371. In addition, many of these sorts of devices generally comprise two members hingedly connected at one end of the device. Displaced from the hinge, the opposite end of the device is fitted with a latch, catch, snap or similar fastener or closure. Such a fastener can become entangled with the user's hair, thereby possibly damaging the user's hair and even the user's fingers when the device is attempted to be removed from the hair. See, for example, the hair holding devices described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,196,429; 5,396,91; 5,996,593; 6,089,240; 6,257,249 and 6,311,699.
An advantage exists, therefore, for a hinged hair holding device including means for enabling a wide range of user-selectable adjustment or control of the tightness and/or looseness with which the gripping portions of the device secures a user's hair.
A further advantage exists for a hinged hair holding device that eliminates the requirement for a dedicated fastener or closure displaced from the device's hinge axis to secure the device about the user's hair and thereby reduces the likelihood of entanglement with a user's hair and resultant damage to a user's hair or fingers.